Lol access to restricted folders via gmail attach file?

[elvair]

Hey all,

I know this may be slightly off-topic, since this should probably belong to some security forum, however I highly dislike those huge forums where its easy to get lost. I think in a such tight like-minded community of thinkpad owners it would be easier to get a meaningful discussion especially given that most people here are quite sophisticated computer users.

So, I just came a accross a strangest "feature" to my liking at least. I have windows 7 ultimate installed. The way the setup was intended is that I have admin account which is only used for administrative purposes, such as when I have to install new software etc. And I have several "standard user" accounts setup, separating everything by function, such as personal / work space etc. The idea was to reduce "surface of attack" by as much as possible, as i dont really need adminsitrative functions on a daily basis. On top of that I have TPM and bit locker initialized, so the drive is encrypted.

In the regular course of events, how that works is that I cannot access other "standard users" folder without administrative password and I like it that way. If I try to access other users folders, it asks me whether I want to use my admin password to get access to folder permanently, which I never did. So technically, if I loged on under "standard user 1" then I don't have access to "standard user 2" or admin forlders for that matter.

Just now I had a huge surprise, I tried to attach some files via gmail interface to an e-mail and accidentally got lost in folders - incidentally with gmail file attach interface i can browse personal folders of all accounts freely without any restriction and I can attach file to e-mail and actually send them. Whereas when I try to access those folders manually using explorer it still asks me for password. So here the question - is Microsfot and google and adobe for that matter (since its using flash technology to attach files) are that stupid altogether ?

Anyone got any ideas whats the deal here ?